Day 18 Devotion, Through the Bible in 90 days

By pastordennis, on September 27th, 2012

Day 18 – Judges 3:28 – Judges 15:12 – What strikes me today and a continuing theme we’ll hear in the telling of the history of God’s people is this:

“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of ….. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, he became angry with them.” That’s the first part, the Israelites wandering from God’s ways and worshipping other gods and God being angry and frustrated with them.

Second part; God lets foreign armies; foreign kings have reign and rule over them. They wreak havoc upon God’s people.

Third part; “Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord; ‘We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.’” The Lord replied, telling them all He has done, and tells them to cry out to the gods they have been worshiping and serving. Israelites destroy all their idols, repented and turn back to God. God hears their cries for help and raises up a leader who can once again help them and through whom they can be victorious over all who occupy their land and have exerted dominance over them.

The above comes from Judges 10:6-17 the account just prior to God raising up Jephthah to be judge over them., but similar acts of unfaithfulness can be found throughout our reading today.

How similar this seems to be to people of our own day, to even us. When times are good and everything is great we turn away from God and go our merry way. But let things get bad; economy, health, family troubles, (you name it) and we’ll turn back to God, seeking God’s help.

The really faithful ones are those who know to worship and serve God through the good times and bad. It should be that during the good times, we give thanks and praise to God for how God is blessing us, and during the bad (there will always be some rough times) we know that God will see us through the dark valleys of life. A phrase I say in my prayers often is; O Lord, be with us as we journey through the deep dark valleys of life and guide us once again to the mountain tops.”

May our reading of His word, guide us to be faithful in our worship during the good times and bad times of life.

O Lord, I am no different than your people of old. People of today are no different from your people of old. How long will put up with our wandering ways? I give thanks that forgiveness is a major part, if not the major part of your divine nature and that you’ll always forgive us and welcome us as we turn back to Thee. Amen.